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The statement “black lives matter” underscores a theological belief that all life is sacred. Unfortunately the black community, and society as a whole, has been placed squarely in the jaws of a moral vice grip; in the aftermath of Treyvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner decisions how do we articulate righteous indignation from a position of moral authority when so much disrespect towards the sanctity of life comes from within our own camp?
Moral and social relativists have tried to reframe the argument against the black community’s outrage by saying “why don’t you protest when a black person kills a white person” or “what about when a black person kills another black person?” The obvious response is simple. First of all to insinuate that the black community has ever been anarchistic has no basis in reality. Research has long shown that the black community has, by and large, always valued effective and appropriate law enforcement. The recent, senseless murder of a young man trying to protect his twin brother in Chicago has been the topic of discussion in the black media ever since it happened. The boy’s mother has decried the lack of more law enforcement so that no one will have to go through what she’s going thru. Secondly when a black person commits a crime against one of our own the community expects them to be prosecuted fairly and appropriately. In other words the time should fit the crime. Lastly, black people go to jail in higher percentages than nearly any other ethnic group in this country. We don’t have the luxury of not being found guilty by a jury of our peers.
Sadly the bulk of these headline-grabbing events are nothing more than a deceptive smoke screen that is designed to deflect attention from the real battle. That battle is not black versus white nor is it rich versus poor as the media would gleefully have you believe.
The real battle is against the family.
The scourge of violence and death in the black community all originates from the same place: a broken home.
According to recent census data over 60% of black children are raised in a single parent home. More than 80 percent of those custodial parents are mothers. They tend to earn a quarter of what a two-parent household earns even though their expenses are higher due to child care and medical costs. Women historically earn less than men do, which places many of these families headed by a single parent at or below the poverty line. Struggling to survive financially becomes such an ever-present burden that effective child-rearing, a difficult task under the best of circumstances, becomes nearly impossible.
There is immutable evidence that there is a clear connection between poverty and crime. Typically in areas where there is a high concentration of poverty there is also a high concentration of crime. The social assistance programs that sprout up in these communities are not a substitute for a healthy, in intact nuclear family.
A healthy organism begins at the cellular level. Therefore an out of order society comes as a result of an out of order family. In other words if the body is sick you treat it at its most elemental level.
But our western society puts more emphasis on things that continue to make us ill. We are deceived into thinking that our lives are governed by the issue of race, class and gender. In the aftermath of the horrific events in Ferguson, MO and New York the media and most every talking head has served up an intoxicating concoction of injustices done to us by the police. Old stories are being dug up and presented as recent events, one sided and highly inflammatory opinions are being used to present an “us versus-them” mentality. At the end of the day both sides of the aisle are so angry and frustrated with the other that the end result is deeper and more entrenched division.
The deception has worked.
The art of deception is a war tactic that is accomplished when measures are taken to get the opponent to react to the wrong set of circumstances. This is what is happening today. People are being deceived that THE most important part of this whole movement is about police brutality and the lack of justice for black men at the hands of an adversarial legal system. And while these are valid points that need to be addressed, they are not where the heat of battle is taking place.
The war against the family is in full tilt. Everything from an emphasis on hyper-individuality which states that I am who I define myself to be regardless of immutable distinctions that were once defined as being gender related, to a blatant disregard for the scientific evidence that men and women are uniquely distinct from one another have all contributed to the demise of the family. Researchers at the University of California at Irvine have shown the how a woman’s brain and a man’s brain processes the same information differently. Their conclusion was that both sexes are equally intelligent but have unique advantages in different areas. This difference leads to different approaches in socialization. How we view the world, how we raise children, how we interact with those around us begins at this level.
Popular culture does not acknowledge this evidence. In fact it not only discounts it, but it seeks to destroy its very existence. Gross consumerism, runaway individuality and the complete lack of any moral center has become the rule of the day. Media outlets have been successful in branding “family values” as an outdated, dysfunctional, overbearing and freedom- killing relic of the past. This message has ushered us into this current age we live in where division, fear and hatred rule the airwaves.
Ultimately if we are going to fix anything within our own community we have to start at the root. That root is the family. Going to marches, listening to emotionally charged speeches, refusing to spend money at certain outlets, and continuing in the fight for justice and equality won’t mean a thing if we don’t attack the real problem. The deceptive tool of righteous indignation will only take us so far, but the tool of nourishing and recommitting ourselves to a strong nuclear family will insure not only the survival of a people, but of a nation.